iliyenzio's Reviews (462)

Overall, this book was just okay. I didn't know how much we didn't know about Shakespeare. In a way, this was really a book about book about Shakespeare, rather than a book about the man himself. Fun and easy, but not particularly helpful if you want to know about Shakespeare.

There was a lot potential in the book that just seemed unfulfilled. The first half was pretty great but it really went downhill in the second half. Some of the writing was beautiful and I enjoyed the complex friendship dynamics, but felt ultimarly let down by the novel.

This was a fantastic, emotional dive into the eviction crisis. It made me angry and upset and feel all kinds of ways.

It was okay. Honestly, my main issue was with the character development, which took a bit of a disappointing nosedive. Which sucks, because I was pretty excited for this book.

I had noticed in Foundryside and Shorefall that despite having a rather diverse collection of different characters (age, experiences, perspectives), all the character voices sound the same. It didn't bother me so much in the first two books, but it almost made me dnf the Locklands. How am I supposed to believe that Sancia, Berenice, and Co escaped and made their own country within the eight years since Shorefall? It's not the logistics that are strange to me but the fact that neither of them seem particularly changed since this experience and the upheaval of their world system. They should at least sound older or something. And the people around them who are younger and older just don't sound their age. It's like everyone's stuck in their teens and early twenties.

Characters aside, the world building, which was the one of the most interesting elements in this series took a bunch of wierd turns that I'm so glad were properly explored.

Short but really unique.

I read this in high school and thought it would be fun to re-read it so I could finally get to read the second book. It was as enjoyable reading it for the second time as the first. I had forgotten how humorous it was in the face of all the sadness.

I've listened to her music in passing and have enjoyed it. That said, I feel like I went into this book a little blind and didn't know about any of her controversies. The book was enjoyable and I found her perspective unique and struggles with giving/taking relatable. There was a wonderful sense of honesty and rawness that was nice, especially when memoirs sometimes come off as too polished. Judging on the book alone, it was pretty decent and definitely worth the read.

This wasn't the book I was expecting. I thought I was going to read more of a how-to. As I began to realize it was a memoir, I  was alright with it, at first. However, as I continued, I found the subject matter drifting further and further away from the intial premise that was promised in the book blurb.

Flanders' 'Year of Less" is more than buying less things. It's also, mainly, about avoiding unhealthy, addicting behaviours that encompass more than just the shopping ban. She writes about avoiding alcohol, avoiding animal products/eating vegan, avoiding unhealthy coping methods when under duress. Very little of the memoir was about her shopping ban and items and much more about her personal struggles with her vices (vices that seemed particularly serious in her case).

I think a book like this (as adversied by the book blurb) attracts two kinds of people. People who are already living a relatively minimalist/anti-consumerist lifestyle and want to improve and people who are actively struggling with unhealthy consumerism/compulsivy buying and seeking a way to break the addiction. I just happen to fall in the first catagory of people, so this book just wasn't that relatable or helpful.

I was trying to audiobook this but it's going to have to be a paperback or something.

There were some very interesting parts and some parts that seemed a bit obvious. I wish it went more in-depth and wasn't so basic.